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EVERGREEN MAY SPEND $3 BILLION ON FLEET EXPANSION

TAIPEI - Evergreen Group - the world's third-largest container- shipping company - plans to spend nearly $3 billion over the next decade to expand its fleet to meet growing demand.

Evergreen Chairman Chang Yung-fa recently told the Wall Street Journal that the company intends to take delivery of a total of 49 new container ships between now and 2013, including 24 vessels with a capacity of more than 6, 000 20-foot containers, said Chang.

The company has already placed an order for 10 of the ships, as well as options for two more, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. The rest of the orders would also likely go to the Japanese shipbuilder, Chang said.

The new fleet-expansion plans are more ambitious and detailed than anything Evergreen has announced previously. They highlight the improved outlook in the shipping industry, as freight rates and volumes rise because of China's rapid growth and the nascent recovery in the global economy.

Chang said he expects the improving economy to continue to propel demand for cargo space, and that he intends to step up competition with a Denmark-headquartered rival, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, in part by expanding into routes that carrier Danish shipper now dominates, the WSJ reported.

FEDEX MAY RELOCATE ASIA HUB TO CHINA

HONG KONG - Federal Express has said it is thinking about moving its Asia-Pacific express hub to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou from the Philippines.

According to press reports, the company may make the move as it jostles for a bigger slice of China's booming parcel market.

FedEx said it had signed a letter of intent with the Guangzhou Airport Authority to enable the firm to evaluate the new airport's suitability as an express hub.

"We are in the very early stages of evaluating possible expansion locations and no decision has been made," the company said in a recent statement.
 
China's economy is expanding rapidly on surging exports and trade investment. Its express mail market reached 139 million units last year, up from just 1.5 million in 1998, according to industry figures.
 
Over 40% of all foreign direct investment flowing into China was earmarked for the Pearl River Delta Region near Guangzhou, the company said.
 
Guangzhou's sprawling new Baiyun airport is due to open in 2004.

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